Scarlet busts out in style, and then the SQ shits the bed. It gets mostly fixed before the jam segment, thankfully. Unfortunately, Donna has now incorporated “flow moaning” into it, including some ridiculous “la la lala” trilling. The moaning subsides into a great jam, hats off.
Mexicali is fun, as energy levels are nice for the start of the show.
BEW has a nice tempo and keeps things moving.
BIODTL
Sugaree has a light organ sound backing it which is soothing.
Jack Straw has a great beat and the energy pushes us further than we’ve been as Keith resumes the piano and Jerry continues to know exactly how to vary the unique presentation of the song already played 100 times.
Row Jimmy
Bobby McGee has Jerry playing just right, no rush, pure playing I like to call it. Great version, 3rd to last (one more in 1974, and once in Dec 1981).
TN Jed. Bob and Jerry really nail the jam before the final chorus, once again.
Big River would be impossible for them to mess up given the quality of the show thus far.
IMHBTR is nice, Keith mainly plays the piano rather than the organ.
PITB. The initial jam heads for mellower exploration, with Jerry using a watery tone. The jam heats up after the 10 minute marker, quite a jazz driven jam. I could see this going down somewhere in LA (Collateral). Keith is awesome on the organ in the supporting role, and a strong Phil works well with Jerry. Billy… octopus. Jerry goes into hyper drive at the 17 minute mark, this type of playing doesn’t really subside until they play the reprise at around 21 minutes. Om closing, while this jam took a while to develop, once it does, it’s pretty awesome.

Seastones>Eyes>Jam>Wharf Rat
Seastones is actually much more interesting than I usually find it. It builds up energy and could be found just as easily in the middle of a Dark Star/PITB/TOO extended jam. About halfway through the first hints of Eyes begin. A groovy Eyes eventually arises, and stays with the verses and theme until after 20 minutes, at which point we go back into free form jazz jamming and spacier areas as well. Wharf Rat, the master of appearing out of space/jam territory, does so once again. This is not one of those powerful versions, this has a nice jam at the end, and then fizzles out unceremoniously.

Around x2 opens a brief 3rd set with a nice kick.
Ship has Keith on the piano. While I prefer funeral home organ on this song to make it creepier, this is a nice version.
GDTRFB>Sugar Magnolia. I was imagining a solid outro with these two, but they were too deep into mellow to make that happen.

Encore: US Blues is from an AUD source, which is funny because when someone is yelling “Casey Jones”, some others are just yelling “Everything!”, some lady is doing opera, and general wastedness ensued. Sounded fun, as did the Blues… lots of echo in that venue which could have been awesome. I may go back and listen to the AUD of the 2nd set to see how it sounded.


Performance Summary
From the opening Scarlet, things are great. This isn’t really a high energy show, more of a cohesive yet jazzy free form/technically good show. The 2nd set session is particularly awesome and exploratory. The 3rd set, I thought it would have been a good place to rock out a bit more, but it never gained speed.

Sound Quality
A-, quick balance issues are sorted before the jam in the opening Scarlet, and the official release is obviously great.